What the heck is a Wiffie you may be wondering? It happens to be Tabby’s favorite toy.
“I thought the red and blue-and-yellow huts were her favorite toys?” those of you who have followed the continuing Tabby saga might be asking.
True. They rank up there. But they’ve been out ranked by a seemingly boring white and green wiffle ball-like cat toy that Mr. Meow’s had since as far back as I can remember. He never paid it much mind, but Tabby? It’s like her security blanket.
Nothing’s more playful than a young cat. ~-Thomas Fuller-~
It wasn’t her first choice for a favorite toy. A mouse Mr. Meow got from a neighbor for Christmas was her very first top pick non-hut cat toy.
There’s a Mouse in the House
We’d had her maybe two weeks (maybe not quite that long) and she hadn’t really showed any interest in playing with any of Mr. Meow’s many toys. She was pretty reserved in the beginning.
But when she finally felt at ease…oh man. Chaos. At night.
Luckily the first time she decided to sow her oats was on a Friday night. She started batting something around and creating a ruckus in our room, waking both Wayne and I up. He got out of bed to see what the heck she was doing. (We’ve learned to pay heed when our pets start acting out of the norm, because we never know what they might be doing: be it just playing or trying to alert us to some danger.)
He said something to the effect, “She’s got a mouse.”
“What?” I asked, bolting out of bed, mortified she’d found a mouse in our house.
Which she had, but I soon realized it was of the toy variety. (Phew!)
Taking It With Her
But then I thought it was even funnier because I knew she’d carried the mouse upstairs. (It had been in the sun room.) Which I got a kick out of. Mr. Meow’s a play ‘em where they lie kind of cat. He’ll bat things around and chase them, but he never got so attached to anything he had to carry it around with him.
Tabby’s a claimer. She claimed that mouse to start with, but ever since she discovered all the fun she can have with her Wiffie…well, few other toys rate. She will play with others, but the one she plays with every day, multiple times a day, the one she carries to bed with her at night (or back downstairs to bounce on the wood floors at night) is her Wiffie.
Wiffie Hunts
Some days she’ll start acting really weird. Kind of blue and mopey. At first it took me a while to realize what was happening. Eventually I started realizing something was missing. That it’d been peaceful around the house lately.
So began our Wiffie Hunts. Usually it’s under the bed out of her reach and I have to fish it out, but sometimes it’s elsewhere. Talk about being the hero once I reunite her with her beloved Wiffie!
And she’s smart. She knows what I’m asking when I say, “Where’s Wiffie?” Often she’ll go get it…or run to where it’s stuck under something.
My only fear is we’ll accidentally step on the thing and break it or something. I need to have a replacement Wiffie ready just in case. Because it’s awful to see her so sad on the days she loses it, and I know she’d be devastated if anything permanently bad happened to her Wiffie.
So now the hunt is on for a Wiffie sans any bells inside. (I’ve found lots of those, but she doesn’t like that kind.) If you happen to run across any anywhere, I’d love to hear about it!
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